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Hudson boys basketball hosting garage sale

Hudson’s boys basketball team will host a garage sale fundraiser this weekend.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at 14413 Duane Court in Spring Hill. Proceeds benefit the Cobras’ basketball program.

What I'm reading: Winning and losing in Muck City

Yahoo!'s longform sports journalism site, The Post Game, has posted an excerpt or Bryan Mealer's new book, "Muck City." Belle Glade has to be one of the country's most fascinating high school sports areas. You get a sense of that in the excerpt, which you can read here.

Speculating on new football classifications with FHSAA's updated data

The FHSAA released its list of enrollment figures from this fall. 

FloridaHSFootball.com broke down the numbers and gave some initial estimates on what schools will be in what football class. You can see the site’s full projections here, but here are some of the highlights:

Pasco ATH Janarion Grant maybe holds the North Suncoast's unofficial all-time TD record

I think Pasco ATH Janarion Grant has added another accolade to his resume: All-time touchdown leader in the North Suncoast .

Unofficially. Maybe.

HomeTeam Pick-Em Playoffs, final eight, but open for all!

I'm giving out a HomeTeam tee shirt to whoever gets the highest total of correct picks this week, including the tiebreakers, whether you are in the playoffs or not. 

So everyone, play!

ACC Championship Game tickets are cheaper than FHSAA playoffs

I saw a crazy figure on Twitter yesterday about how unbelievably cheap tickets are for Saturday’s ACC Championship Game between Florida State and Georgia Tech. What, fans in Charlotte aren’t thrilled about watching a 6-6 triple-option team play for a possible bowl game against a MAC/Big East team?

Check out StubHub. Cheap seats are $4 each (excluding the ridiculous service charges).

Premium parking at a Pasco game costs $5. One ticket to the two quarters of tiebreaker football was $7.

Pasco-Robinson: Who you got?

The big game this week is Pasco-Robinson, the Class 5A region final matchup most people predicted early in the season. It’s so big that the great John C. Cotey himself plans to attend. Big-time, I tell ya.

Readers: Lakewood should have punted

We posted a quick poll Saturday, asking the question: With a 19-15 lead with 2:41 remaining and the ball on its own 40-yard-line, should Lakewood have punted the ball instead of going for it? The Spartans did go for it, didn't make it, leading to a short Robinson drive and game-winning touchdown, ending Lakewood's season.

We had 71 people respond to our question, and 69 percent (or 49 voters) said that Lakewood should have punted, while 22 said hey, it was one lousy yard, go for it and try to seal the game.

Here are some of the responses:

* "I was at the game, i am clearly a Robinson Fan, but i think Lakewood should have gone with it. We were having so much trouble stopping them running the ball i'm sure they would have got the one yard. I'm glad they punted though."

* "Lakewood always loses big games so this was no big deal." …

Should Lakewood have punted?

It's a tough call. And it was a gutsy one by coach Cory Moore, as he decided to go for it. If he makes it, he's a genius who showed faith in his offensive line to get one lousy yard to clinch what would have been the biggest win in school history.

But the Spartans were stopped. And Robinson drove in for the winning touchdown.

(NOTE: To be fair, it should be noted I've read on Facebook that Lakewood was trying to get Robinson to jump offsides, and the Knights did but the flag wasn't thrown, and that the ball was never supposed to be snapped. For what it's worth.)

Me? I probably would have punted, since Robinson needed a touchdown to win. I'd rather take my chances and see the Knights have to go 70-80 yards against my highly-touted defense than just 40.

What about you?

HomeTeam Pick-Em: Mary Krause, Tom Ketchum dominant in moving on to the Great 8.

 Mary Krause, a pick-em novice who entered the field this year just looking to try her luck, showed once again she is a force to be reckoned with by destroying Thom Watson 15-12 and moving on to the final eight in the inaugural HomeTeam Pick-Em National Championships of the Whole Wide World and Universe.

After a slow start with the bigger schools, hitting on just one of her seven Class 7A and 8A choices, Krause made a dramatic comeback by nailing 14 of her final 16 choices.

"Some have called SPCJessica the Queen of Small School Football, but I think I proved that this week, that crown has been passed on,'' Krause may or may not have said during a real, or possibly fake, interview with the Times. "She moved to California, and I moved onto her throne. The seat was still warm. But the way I'm going, it's getting hot. I'm not sure who wants a piece of this, but if I were the competition, I know it wouldn't be me.''

Krause needs only get by HomeTeamer Matt Baker and the winner of the Jarrod Smith-Ron Mitchell match-up to set up a potential championship showdown with Tom Ketchum, the top seed and a 15-10 winner himself this week.

Krause has already opened as a +3 favorite over Baker. …

The new face of Friday Night Rewind? Or just the cutest?

 I didn't plan on having 9-year-old Joshua Conley as my co-host on Friday Night Rewind this week. But he left me no choice.

I headed out to Pasco practice last week to do a long, detailed and humorous open with the coaches that involved cans of spray paint and...well, I can't say anymore. We might still dust it off for a future episode.

But as I'm standing there, Joshua comes walking up to us starts talking. And talking. And talking.

What I'm reading: A touching tribute to Dad in Indy

Check out this story from my friend and former colleague Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star.
 

A Fishers High player lost his father to a bloodclot on a Friday. The player, Matt Van Hoosen, didn't want to suit up for that night's playoff game, for obvious reasons. He didn't even bring his jersey.

Matt watched his team from the stands as it fell behind 6-3 in the first half, and then a coach asked him if he wanted to come out and play the second half. What happened next, with a jersey from the freshman team and pants that were far too small, was pretty darn inspiring and worth clicking this link to read. Full Story

HomeTeam Pick-Em: The Sweet 16.

Here you folks go. The cream of the crop, the best of the best, the survivors. Where others were weak, you have been strong. And yadda yadda yadda.

But have a Happy Thanksgiving, for real. And good luck.

VIDEO: Osceola bows out to Hillsborough

Hey folks, we didn't get a Friday Night Rewind video crew out to Hillsborough this week, but we have the next best thing: The Jenna Jean Sports Minute.

Jean is a senior at Osceola and pretty good at multimedia, and this is her recap of Osceola's playoff loss to mighty Hillsborough.

Check it out: 

Krause, LaRiviere lay the smack down in first round of HomeTeam Pick-Em playoffs

The much-anticipated HomeTeam Pick-Em Playoff Spectacular kicked off Friday night, with Mary Krause and Derek LaRiviere posting big victories and tournament creator, organizer, tabulator and all-around great guy John C. Cotey getting bounced out of an event he once said was "more important to me than my own children."

Cotey was, according to some (meaning, uh, me), unfairly ousted by Jarrod Smith 29-28. His 28 points were more than 21 of the 32 players competiting, though he vowed afterwards not to complain about the unfairness of pouring so many hours of his own time into a new feature for the HomeTeam site that grew so fast and got so big he sometimes had to miss spending time with his family in order to keep it all in order.

"Not my style,'' Cotey said. …